Benefits explosion- where will it end?

[TheBlueKoala]

"PIP benefits explosion: Anxiety and depression handouts have nearly TRIPLED to £4.3bn since Covid - with autism and ADHD bill hitting £2.2bn and 'back pain' £1.6bn"

Something is not right here. When I have written before on here telling about people I know who claim for anxiety although they have rich social lives (funded by 440£ extra per month from PIP) I've had many people telling me that it's not possible etc. It sure is. How many 16 year olds are claiming PIP for anxiety?

Instead of benefits why not pay for therapy- invest massively in the NHS mental health support so that people with anxiety, adhd and autism can see a therapist regularly to help them. This would make a difference for tje individual and the society. Throwing out money won't.

AINBU- I agree with about
AIBU- No, extra money is always useful

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15510221/PIP-benefits-anxiety-depression-austism-ADHD-pain-Covid-Labour.html

My dsd has put a claim in for pip because as she said “it’s free money” she has made out she can’t leave the house alone, make her own food, all sorts. Her mum is fully backing it too. She wants a car on pip aswell.

This is just not based on fact.

Giving people who are relatively poor stimulates the economy ...🤦‍♀️

OP it could end with taxes increasing, or it could end with a different party getting into power on the promise of stopping it, or it could end with cuts in other areas like education or pensions reform. Who knows?

She csn claim all she wants she wants
Without professional evidence ,she is likely to get nowhere with it .

My mother has been on benefits- housing, sickness (depression) etc for decades.
She is without doubt the most entitled person I know.
She has no respect for other people's time or money.
She believes she's entitled to various luxuries, for example, a car, a holiday, a guest bedroom in her house.
I'm not saying she wasn't somewhat like this before claiming but, my God, benefits have compounded everything!
And the amount she has received, it's eye-watering! And this is repeated ad infinitum throughout the land.
This not sustainable. But we've been trained in the chattering classes to call any discussion on this "benefits bashing" as per @randomchap
It's ok to want to broach the subject, in fact it's essential, and anyone who would call you a bigot for doing so is very likely isolated from the consequences of their luxury beliefs.

The Economist had an interesting article about the UK's position titled "affluenza". People think there is considerably more money than there is to fix all the different things they would like to see fixed. One nugget was the fact people often quote the UK as being the world's 6th largest economy. But per head, it is a long, long way down. It's sort of interesting and also alluded to in Francis fukuyama's book "liberalism and its discontents", the thrust of which is that it's human nature to keep seeking problems to solve - but with no relative measure of just how much living standards have already progressed in the last century.

Glad that works for you. Do you think everyone who shares your conditions should be able to do the same as you, or do you acknowledge that other people might struggle because we’re all different?

There are literally thousands of these long term recipients. Totally entitled people who never take any responsibility for anything.

Better public health might help

Unemployment is not 'skyrocketing'.

In Q4 2023 - unemployment was 3.9% but economic inactivity was 22.1% - this is a total of 26%.

At the end of Q3 2025 - unemployment was 5%, economic inactivity was 21% - so still 26% in total.

Lower economic inactivity and higher unemployment is a good thing as long as the total doesn't increase because it means more people are available for work.

Remember unemployment figures only measures people who have been actively seeking work in the past two weeks - so that capture people who are moving from sickness benefits onto work seeking benefits.

The overall employment figures is pretty stable at 75%

The day that I go to the Daily Mail for reasonable reporting on important social issues...............

The only evidence she has is her diagnosis, and trying medication for it, but she is very clever in getting what she wants, so i won’t be suprised if she manages it !

Yes I do acknowledge we are all different hence my comment that I find work gives me structure and purpose and that is my coping mechanism.

These people who have conditions what is troubling them so much in life that they want.

I understand it's personally to you and you don't have to share if you don't want to. But what do you have anxiety about.

Or like my great gran who likely had some of ND from reading her letters and diaries, as well as an abusive husband and ten kids to manage on a remote farm, drank a lot of gin, smoked a lot of cigarettes and talked regularly about harming herself. She also died at a young age of 52.

As I said without evidence she is likely to, get no where .

I don't have anxiety "about" anything. It's like a tiny demon who is ruining my life and regularly makes me feel like I'm dying.

It's not being a bit nervous or worried about something. It's a physical sensation of doom, throat closing, chest tight, legs shaky, can't coordinate my breathing and talking so I struggle to even get words out. It's a buzz in my head that washes everything else away.

What's not based on a fact?

That a strong economy is the source for money for welfare and Health Service?

Where is the money for the 'relatively poor' coming from?
According to you everyone who in receipt of a welfare payment is doing those who aren't a favour?
What is this?

Wishonomics?

I think it matters to the poor suckers paying it !

Fewer people on payroll is a good thing, and graduates finding it harder to get a job?

Young people stuck at home is a way to increase depression for them.

Looking at ONS it’s been a steady climb upwards for pay rolled employees since 2014 apart from Covid, and until now.

So what is the solution then? And it can’t be to tax the rich so much as they do often leave. I for instance am not rich but earn pretty well, but my company has an office in Dubai now. I have the choice to move there if I wish. My kids are still at school so wouldn’t consider it for now but it is an attractive easy proposition these days if I wanted to go. Mobility of the wealthy is a problem for the government.

Sure, and what medical evidence does she have? She can want, all she likes, but without anything to back up what she is saying her difficulties are, she is highly unlikely to get anywhere.

Yanbu

Therapy for autism and adhd! You do realise therapy won’t get rid of those 😂 if it did my 2 boys would of been cured years ago